1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to Internet Protocol (IP)-based home networking, and more particularly, to a method and an apparatus in which a Remote User Interface Client (RUIC) controls a plurality of RUI Servers (RUIS).
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, home networking is configured by an IP based private network and connects different devices, e.g., all types of Personal Computers (PCs), intelligent products used within the home, and various other devices, such as wireless apparatuses, to one network through a common virtual computing environment, which is commonly referred to as “middleware”, to control the devices.
Middleware connects the various devices in a peer-to-peer manner to enable communication between the devices. Middleware has been actively researched, and up to now, proposed in order to improve the home network technique by many industry standard organizations such as Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA), an Home Audio Video Interoperability (HAVI), Universal Plug and Play (UPnP), Java Intelligent Network Infrastructure (Jini), Home Wide Web (HWW), etc.
In the home network, an RUI technique can be used by one device to control functions of other devices. The RUI technique is based on a client-server architecture and is used by a user can control the RUIS through the UI in the RUIC, after the RUIC obtains the UI from the RUIS.
Such an RUI technique is a mechanism, which renders and controls a user interface for controlling an application on another device, instead of a device driving the corresponding application. Currently, there are a number of various RUI techniques being researched, such as Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)-2014, eXpandable Home Theater (XHT), Widget Description Exchange Service (WiDeX), Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), etc.
A remote control system included in the CEA-2014 technique includes an RUIS providing a UI for remote control and an RUIC indicating the UI sent from the RUIS.
The RUIS providing the UI for the remote control has a web server in the RUIS. The RUIS transmits a web page, which the RUIC requires, through the web server and the RUIC displays the web page of a corresponding UI to the user through an eXtensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML) browser.
By using such an RUI technique, the RUIC sets up the RUIS and a session and can control the RUIS by receiving UI components from the RUIS. Here, the UI components refer to elements included in the UI and have a concept, which is a general term for all types of data provided to the RUIC from the RUIS, such as an icon, a pull-down menu, a button, a scroll bar, a window, a text, and A/V data (audio/video, picture, etc.) on the session.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional RUIC device controlling a plurality of RUISs using a remote UI page and control information provided by conventional RUISs.
Referring to FIG. 1, when an RUIC 100 device is to control a plurality of RUISs 101 to 103, the RUIC 100 device sequentially selects the RUIS 101-103 devices, one by one. Also, when there are several control commands, which will be sent to one device, each control message is sequentially sent to the device to be controlled.
For example, in order to enable a user of the RUIC 100 to control the RUISs 101 to 103, the RUIC 100 sequentially transmits control commands 104 to 108 to each of the RUIS devices 101 to 103. When the user of the RUIC 100 desires to turn down the volumes of RUIS #1 101, RUIS #2 102, and RUIS #3 103, the user of the RUIC 100 transmits each of the Volume Down control commands 104, 106, and 107. Subsequently, when the user of the RUIC 100 desires to power off RUIS #1 101 when it enters into a sleep mode, the user of the RUIC 100 transmits the control command 105 to RUIS #1 101. When the user of the RUIC 100 desires to turn the light of RUIS #3 103 off, the user of the RUIC 100 transmits the control command 108 to RUIS #3 103.
In FIG. 1, the user selects devices one by one and repeats a process in which the user loads the UI page from the RUIS to be controlled, each time the user controls the RUIS device. Also, when there are several operations to be controlled, a message including the control command should be sequentially transmitted to the RUIS several times. However, in this case, a user repeatedly performs cumbersome procedures and selections, which deteriorates control efficiency.